Page 21 of Stolen By The Beast
I watched her closely, her embarrassment evident. My curiosity got the better of me as I probed further. “I can smell you, Juniper.”
Her eyes rounded larger than I’d ever seen in her kind, her red mouth popping open. “Y-you can smell me?!”
“Yes. When you’re scared, when you’re content, when you’re angry, and now—when you’re needy. Is it… because of me?” I asked, although I already suspected the answer.
She hesitated before nodding slowly. “Yes. You asked what I feel for you, and it’s so much—gratitude, awe, and… attraction.”
My mind stuttered, trying to process this revelation. The darkness within me stirred, a potent mixture of desire and danger, and I marveled that such a being would feel anything for me—and that I, somehow, reciprocated these emotions.
I couldn’t deny the allure of Juniper’s form, but the entirety of the situation baffled me. “But… why? Why would you be attracted to me?”
Juniper’s gaze remained locked on mine, her eyes filled with a mix of apprehension and something I couldn’t quite place. “I don’t know. There’s just something about you that draws me in. Does it really matter? How I feel is how I feel.”
As I pondered the implications of her confession, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was playing with fire. She was a fragile creature in a world filled with danger, and yet, the undeniable pull between us had ignited a curiosity I couldn’t extinguish.
My gaze bore into Juniper’s, searching for answers that seemed to dance just beyond my reach. The darkness within me churned, a tempestuous maelstrom that I struggled to contain. That it wanted Juniper worried me.
Never had it craved anything before this but death.
“You want to mate with me?”
“When you say mate, do you mean, um… you know?”
“I don’t know.”
She huffed, and the amusement I always felt when she was around bubbled to the surface, dulling some of the other potent emotions riding me. A frown curved Juniper’s lips down—something that happened often since I apparently irritated her greatly—but her cheeks turned pink.
“Why is your face the color of a Hawthorn berry?”
Juniper rolled her eyes. “I’m blushing.”
“Blushing?”
“Yeah. Humans do it when we feel embarrassed, or angry, or… other things.”
“You don’t seem angry.”
“I’m not.”
“Are you embarrassed?”
“A little.”
“Explain.”
Another huff, but she punctuated it with a laugh. “It just means I’m a little uncomfortable talking about my thoughts.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m trying to figure out if mating means, like, being your forest companion or… mating.”
“You’re repeating yourself without explaining—and your face is getting redder? How red should it get? What makes it red?”
“Uh, blood.”
“If all the blood is rushing to your face, that probably isn’t good for the rest of your body. Don’t all your parts need blood?”
Juniper sighed. “What do you mean by mate?”
